1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device of Electrically Controlled Birefringence (ECB) mode having a retardation layer in which liquid crystal molecules are hybrid-aligned, electronic equipment using the device, and a method of manufacturing the liquid crystal display device.
2. Background Art
In related art, as a general drive mode in a liquid crystal display device for personal computers, the twist nematic mode that provides high transmittance and display in simple combination with polarizing plates has been applied. Recently, there has been a sharply increasing demand for display devices for use in mobile electronic equipment such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) or cellular phones, and semi-transmissive liquid crystal display devices that enable lower power consumption and higher visibility outdoors compared to transmissive liquid crystal display devices have been developed.
In the semi-transmissive liquid crystal display devices, generally, the ECB mode in combination with retardation layers is applied. In order to obtain display characteristics of reflection and transmission, the semi-transmissive liquid crystal display device has a configuration in which a liquid crystal cell is sandwiched with one or two retardation layers at one side.
Further, in the liquid crystal display device of ECB mode, a retardation layer having a hybrid structure is used as the retardation layer. Since the combination of the hybrid-structured retardation layer with the ECB mode provides a wide viewing angle, the combination has been applied not only to the semi-transmissive liquid crystal display devices but also to the transmissive liquid crystal display devices these days.
As a liquid crystal display device using the hybrid-structured retardation layer, a configuration in which a liquid crystal cell is sandwiched with hybrid-structured retardation layers having negative refractive anisotropy is proposed (see JP-A-10-197862 (FIG. 1, paragraph 0006) (patent document 1), JP-A-2004-118222 (FIG. 1, paragraph 0045) (patent document 2), and JP-A-2004-309598 (paragraphs 0020, 0052) (patent document 3)).